Heads in the sand
Australia, Thailand, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Ukraine, Russia, and Chile.
Hello,
Here are the five things you need to know today:
AUSTRALIA. A massacre shakes a complacent country.
THAILAND. CAMBODIA. As the war escalates, the civilians lose their grip.
HONG KONG. Democracy and freedom of speech count for little
UKRAINE. RUSSIA. Zelensky’s symbolic compromise offers a basis for realpolitik.
CHILE. A hard-right candidate is elected to a glass house.
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AUSTRALIA. Fatal shore
A massacre shakes a complacent country.
At least 16 were killed Sunday at a Hanukkah celebration on Sydney’s Bondi Beach. After the deadliest attack on Jews since October 2023, Benjamin Netanyahu blamed the Australian government for “pouring fuel on this antisemitic fire”.
INTELLIGENCE. Netanyahu singled out Australia’s recognition of Palestine. Mossad allegedly suspects Iran. The reality is likely more prosaic, and damning: a long, slow breakdown in social cohesion and a complacency among authorities who didn’t think something like this could ever happen on Sydney’s distant shores. The warnings were in plain sight. Less than a day after October 7, 2023, protesters massed Sydney’s opera house to chant “gas the Jews”.
FOR BUSINESS. After arson attacks in 2024, Australia shut Iran’s embassy. Intelligence services are said to have disrupted other plots. Yet the centre-left Labor governments in Sydney and Canberra have been criticised for their tepid response to widespread grassroots antisemitism, with political expediency – losing votes to the anti-Israel Greens – overtaking security concerns. Without a firmer response, Australia risks not just Israel’s ire but America’s.
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THAILAND. CAMBODIA. Riding the tiger
As the war escalates, the civilians lose their grip.
Thailand imposed martial law in parts of the east Sunday after it reported its first civilian death from a week of clashes. The military said it was considering a fuel blockade. Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said there would be no ceasefire.
INTELLIGENCE. Cambodia poses no real threat to Thailand and a dispute over border